


The Conversation of Art

by Ionaonie



Series: The Bond Files [9]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Bond is a menace, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ionaonie/pseuds/Ionaonie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lowering the tablet, Q scowled. ‘You didn’t think to open the door when I walked into it?’</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Conversation of Art

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise for the huge gap between updates. I had a terrible case of writers block. Hopefully the next one won't take so long.

Walking through the now virtually deserted lab towards his office, Q scrolled through all the research proposals that had been submitted by his sud-division heads over the last week. There were no more missions about to go nuclear (literally) and so he was able to get around to doing all the work he’d been planning to since that morning. And since he was wasting time waiting for Bond to come in and be outfitted for his next mission, he might as well review them. In amongst the ones that made him roll his eyes so hard he nearly sprained them and wonder what his department heads were smoking, were some potential gems, he was relieved to see. Sally and Gemma had led him to believe that every single submission was hopeless, but he should have known they were just messing with him. 

Approaching his office door, he was in the process of composing a rather scathing email to a particularly ambitious (but not in a good way) proposal, so instead of pausing in his typing he simply turned slightly to nudge it open with his hip. He was rather surprised when it remained resolutely closed. The door was never completely shut for this very reason. With a roll of his eyes, Q reached back, groping around until he found the handle and pushed it open, stumbling slightly as his weight shifted.

‘Stupid door,’ he muttered to himself, kicking it shut behind him and flicking on the light. 

There was a soft snort from the back of his office and Q paused in surprise, eyes still firmly on the tablet screen. As a rule, people didn’t enter his office uninvited when he was absent. In all of MI6 there was only one person Q could think of who wouldn’t care about such boundaries. And sure enough, when he looked up, Bond was standing behind the desk, his back to Q. He had a hand in a pocket and was staring at the art Q had finally got around to hanging on the wall, apparently quite absorbed. Q didn’t think his choice of paintings were that strange and felt a stirring of unease settle low in his stomach.

Lowering the tablet, Q scowled. ‘You didn’t think to open the door when I walked into it?’ 

‘I had every confidence in your ability to figure out how to open a door,’ Bond said without turning around, giving Q the time to observe that it should be against all the laws of physics for a suit to be quite so form-fitting. ‘You just needed to put your back into it.’ 

‘Such helpful advice,’ Q said dryly. 

‘I seem to recall getting similar advice in the face of an approaching tube train,’ Bond said without turning around. 

Ah. ‘Yes, well.’ Q cleared his throat. ‘Now, why are you here?’ 

Bond turned around but didn’t move out from behind the desk. ‘M said you had something for me.’ 

‘Oh, yes. Of course. Your mission.’ He walked further into his office, stopping just short of his desk. There was a piping hot cup of tea sitting on top of a stack of files. Bond’s eyes flicked down for a brief second, but he didn’t mention it and Q decided to follow his example. However, he did pick it up and take a sip, discovering that it was made exactly how he liked it. He didn’t have time to think about that that even meant. ‘You’re early.’ Which bore mentioning. Bond was either late or appeared out of thin air when he was least expected. Either way, he was never early. 

Bond shrugged. ‘You say that like you disapprove.’ 

‘It’s just unexpected.’ He checked a couple of details on his tablet, determined to stay on the opposite side of the desk to Bond. ‘Some of the equipment you require is still being prepared.’

‘And there I was under the impression that Q Branch was run efficiently and on a tight schedule.’ 

‘It is, but we pride ourselves on our flexibility.’ He idly leafed through some papers scattered across his desk, refusing to be baited. ‘We also operate on the assumption that you’re always late.’

‘Are you calling me predictable?’

Biting the inside of his mouth so stop himself from smiling, Q shrugged. 

‘Q, I’m hurt,’ Bond said reproachfully. 

‘I’m sure you’ll find a way to struggle on,’ Q said dryly. 

‘Your concern is truly touching.’

‘Oh, do shut up, 007.’ He ducked his head, pretending to look for something, so Bond couldn’t see him smile. Although, really, he was sure Bond already knew. The bigger surprise was that Bond wasn’t calling him on it. 

‘So how long until I’m ready to go?’

‘Not that long.’ He hoped. Because at that exact moment, Q would quite happily put all his work on hold just to spend a few more minutes enjoying bantering with Bond. He resolutely refused to accept that he might be flirting with Bond because he knew how that would go and he didn’t want to go there. Just to make sure Bond would be leaving soon, he fired off a quick email, asking for a rush to be put on his tech.

‘Excellent.’ Bond turned back to the wall. 

‘Forgive me, but why is that excellent?’ Q asked, with a frown. 

‘It means we have time to talk about this.’

Q’s eyes flicked along all the frames on the wall. ‘Art?’

‘Surprisingly, no. I was talking more about this.’ He stepped to the side and gestured to Q’s newest addition to the wall. Which, how the hell had he forgotten about that? 

His fingers hovered over his tablet, as he stared past Bond. ‘Oh. That.’ 

‘Yes. That.’

Cocking his head, Q smiled. In an ideal world, Bond would never have seen it because Q was quite sure it would soon be having an unfortunate accident. For the time being, though, he was quite prepared to enjoy 007’s obvious indignation. ‘I think it’s a rather unique document, don’t you?’ 

‘It’s the report I wrote on that prototype.’ Bond sounded like he couldn’t decide whether he should be peeved or amused. 

‘As I said: unique.’

Bond swivelled on his heel and regarded Q with a raised eyebrow. ‘Is that so?’

‘To date, this is the one and only report I’ve received from you.’ He met Bond’s gaze steadily. ‘Despite them being mandatory.’

‘So you decided to frame it,’ Bond said, his voice flat. 

Q shrugged. ‘It seemed like the thing to do.’

‘It seemed like –‘ Bond muttered before snorting to himself. ‘Of course it did.’

‘If you start filling them in again, I’ll take it down,’ Q offered. Although he wasn’t entirely sure he was being honest. It hadn’t been there long, but Q had found that he enjoyed swivelling in his chair to stare at it when he needed to think. 

Bond pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘It’s tempting, but no.’

‘No?’ In all honesty, he expected it to disappear sometime in the near future regardless. ‘Really?’

‘I think I like it where it is.’

Before Q could even begin to parse what Bond meant by that, an alert appeared on his tablet. ‘Your equipment is ready.’ 

Bond gave a short nod to show Q he’d heard, but didn’t move from behind the desk. Bond was generally inscrutable but Q liked to think (probably incorrectly) that over the last few months he’d started to learn how to interpret Bond somewhat accurately . However, he couldn’t get a read on Bond about this, which was particularly unnerving as he didn’t want his office to suffer any future payback if Bond decided to throw a tantrum. Before Q had to work out how to hustle Bond out of his office, Bond turned around and stepped out from behind the desk. 

‘Is that still going to be there on my return?’ he asked mildly, crossing the room. 

Q paused in the doorway, glancing back at the report. ‘Probably.’ 

Bond stopped in the doorway, standing considerably closer to Q than was necessary, making Q shiver involuntarily. ‘Are you sure about that?’ he murmured. 

Struggling to pull himself together, Q allowed himself a quick smile. ‘I think so, yes.’ 

‘It might suffer from an unfortunate accident in the not too distant future.’ 

‘007, you don’t think that’s the original, do you?’ 

Standing so close, it was impossible for Q to avoid noticing how warm Bond’s eyes were and he had to lock his knees to stop himself from leaning dangerously into Bond’s space. Mouth suddenly dry, he found himself licking at his lips before he could consider it a bad idea. 

Bond’s gaze dropped to Q’s mouth. ‘I’d be disappointed if it was, Q.’

Q’s breath caught and he swallowed compulsively. ‘We need to get you fitted out.’ Somehow, thankfully, his voice was completely steady. ‘Follow me.’ Without waiting to see if Bond followed, Q slipped away from him and walked back through the lab. 

‘By all means, lead the way,’ Bond muttered, just behind him.


End file.
